Survey says
Today (Friday, March 16) marks the last day of the district closure days portion of the Vancouver School Board's two-week spring break, which ends March 23.
So it seems appropriate to call attention to results from a parent survey on whether the district should continue shutting down schools for up to 10 days each year to offset budget shortfalls. The VSB is considering five options, including keeping the 10 extra district days off for a savings of $1 million. Other options are to cut seven days to save $700,000, cut five days for $500,000 in savings, cut four days to save $400,000 or eliminate the extra days off.
The district is also considering putting up to $25,000 of the savings from the extra days off into a support fund to help community school teams offer activities on district days off and professional days, and establishing common non-instructional days for professional development. Complete report details are available on the VSB's website, but partner groups will have the opportunity to provide feedback on options at the district's management and coordinating committee, March 29. Parents were surveyed on 10 school calendar-related questions with more than 2,500 responding to each one. Most had children in elementary school.
A few highlights: one question asked participants if they wanted to continue with the additional 10 days off-43 per cent agreed or strongly agreed, while 38 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed.
Gwen Giesbrecht, chair of the District Parent Advisory Council, suspects that response reflects an understanding of the board's fiscal realties. Meanwhile, 38 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that in their view adding extra minutes of instruction to each school day adequately compensates for the 10 closure days, compared to 47 per cent who disagreed or strongly disagreed.
Giesbrecht was somewhat surprised by responses to question five, which asked if district closure days were a benefit to respondents' families-33 per cent agreed or strongly agreed, while 49 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed. Giesbrecht noted responses were greatest from West Side schools.
"It was interesting that although we didn't hear from as many families from areas of the city that we know have higher concentrations of families with inner city and low-income challenges, and have the most difficulty finding the extra money for child care, lost wages, etc., that the negative impact was still so high," she said. "I would be interested to see how those numbers would shift if there had been a broader city wide response."
Mike Lombardi, a Vision Vancouver trustee, chairs the management and coordinating committee. He said the committee will likely recommend an option or options for further consultation after the March 29 meeting. "Once the board has a better sense of the actual budget shortfall, it will be in a better position to decide upon the school calendar option for 2012-13," he added.
Twitter: @Naoibh
